This interview was conducted prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike.
The following essay is by Cristo Fernández, as told to Allie Volpe. He stars as footballer Dani Rojas on Apple TV+’s Emmy-winning series “Ted Lasso.” This piece has been edited for clarity and length.
When I was a kid, my biggest passion was Mexican wrestlers. I was fascinated with them. Then, my grandma said, “Let’s find something new.” She took me out to the garage, gave me a ball, told me to kick it, and we started to play football. All through my childhood, that was the only thing I ever did. At 15 years old, I became a professional player and went to school at night.
After I finished high school, I didn’t want to study anything, but my parents convinced me to try communications; I genuinely thought it would an easy career. Then, I had an injury in my left knee that took me out of football for almost a year; it stopped me from making my professional debut. I went through an existential crisis.
I took classes in writing, journalism, and visual languages, and I started shooting videos. No one wanted to act in them, so I thought, I’ll do it. I became famous at my university for being the guy who acts for free, likes it, and is good at it. I made a portfolio of student videos. I had homework where you re-create, shot-by-shot, a scene from a movie. I did “Pulp Fiction,” “Fight Club,” “American Psycho,” and a few Mexican films; I was acting in all of them.
After I recovered from my injury, I tried to go back to the football, but things didn’t work out. I finished my degree and started to do shorts and commercials in Guadalajara and saved money for three years. My first gig—playing a life insurance salesman—was also my first acting lesson, because I had to learn a script and play a role. That job allowed me to earn the money I needed to go to the U.K. and pay for my master’s at the Guildford School of Acting in 2016.
When I was studying for my degree, they gave me a student visa. After I graduated, I did a commercial where I played a Mexican wrestler, and I got an agent in London. But for the next three years, I didn’t have a visa; I was a tourist. I was working as a bartender.
I had some great auditions, but as soon as they found out I didn’t have a visa, I didn’t get the role. That encouraged me to keep writing, producing, and shooting my own things. In those years, anything I had to show as an actor were things that I shot during and after university with friends. That’s what kept me going.
After three years, I went back to Mexico and left the door open with my agency in the U.K. Then, they sent the audition for “Ted Lasso.” I did the self-tape from Mexico, and I didn’t hear back. Meanwhile, I kept shooting my shorts. Months later, they sent me a new audition, and I ended up landing the role.
I’m now developing my own film company—it’s called Espectro MX Films. I’m hoping to bring more opportunities to my hometown with my filmmaking. There’s so much talent in Guadalajara, both behind the camera and in front of it.
Embrace who you are—that was my biggest lesson. I didn’t want to do anything with football during my master’s, but then I realized that it’s a part of me. I love this sport. I am very Mexican. This is who I am, take it or leave it.
This story originally appeared in the Aug. 3 issue of Backstage Magazine.
